He Hates to Burst Your Bubble

Opinion on the local breweries.

I want to address a topic of vital interest to all civilized residents of this area: microbreweries. More precisely, their products. During my peak beer drinking years, (roughly 1958-2000) I lived through the Dark Ages of American brew.

Ronnie Ray Gun once called this nation "A shining city on the hill." In beer drinking terms it could have been called "The dull gray sump hole of mediocrity" also known as Budweiser, Miller, Coors, Schlitz, Blatz, Hamm's etc.—not to mention the "lite" versions of these palate-insulting swills.

These Dark Ages were so bad I even took to making beer for my own consumption with modest success. I once even won a beer tasting with one of my brews. But due to quality control issues, I could never duplicate my prize winner. One batch would be delicious, the next I had to pour down the sink. But then, nearly twenty years ago, I moved to this area and watched as micro breweries began to pop up, grow and expand. Now, though sadly past my imbibing prime, I live in beer drinker's heaven.

It seems that new breweries are opening at a dizzying rate. The Nugget announces that Sisters' Three Creeks Brewery is expanding and the Source seems to report on a new or expanding brewery in each addition. Alas however, I see trouble on the horizon. Remember the Housing Bubble? A few prescient Observers saw it coming and warned us, but most people didn't want to face facts. Could there be a Beer Bubble coming? (Absolutely no pun intended, honestly.) How many breweries can this region support? I know some are going retail, bottling their beers and shipping them all over and I wish them well. But still, are we overdoing it folks? Or am I Cassandra? Wait, Cassandra was right. It's just that nobody wanted to listen to her.

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While many of us are going to be slaving over stoves, stuffing, brining or the always fun deep-frying our butterball turkeys this Thursday, there are options for those who don't feel like sticking their hands in the cavity of a 20-pound bird or cutting up the neck to stew some gravy. For all of you who would rather have a skilled chef prepare your fixins, here's a list of restaurants serving Thanksgiving Dinner, courtesy of Visit Bend.